Near daily discussions about my personal walk in faith and spiritual growth. Every now and again I will throw in a stitchy post. I used to write on "A Stitch In Time", but decided to take my blogging in a different direction. Thank you for visiting and hopefully you will be inspired. Feel free to leave a comment or question.
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Monday, January 26, 2015

Love is patient...

Have you ever read this verse and wondered what does this mean? The more I read and study the Bible, the more questions I have. Especially as I find myself lacking patience waiting on the Lord to show me His will for my life. I was told that one way to study is to break down each verse. Chew on the adjectives, if you will. Like the word "patient" describing "love". What I have found is interesting in and of itself.

I first looked up the terms for the different forms of "love" as found in the Bible. There is "agape" which is the very nature of God - an action, "phileo" or having affection for (not to be confused with "eros"), and "storge" which is familial love & affection. Understanding that this verse is speaking more to the action of love, I moved on to understand the word "patient".

This is what I found. Patient, or hupomone (hoop-om-o-nay) in Greek, is being willing to wait. Another term used in the Bible is "long-suffering" or patient endurance; patiently bearing difficulties or wrongs. I also looked at some of the synonyms: forbearing and tolerant. Forbearing is to be tolerant or patient in spite of provocation and tolerant is marked by forbearance or endurance.

I find myself feeding into provocation thereby being unforbearing and impatient.

A trait I need to work on with the grace and strength of God.

Why do I write about this topic? Well, not just to inform you, my readers, but to help me put some perspective on storms happening in my life right now. I won't bore you with details. Just know that when one begins to grow their relationship with the Lord, the devil comes out in full force. And he sure has with me.